New Interview with Evgenia Medvedeva

andromache · Oct 9, 2018

hippomoomin said:
I love Evgenia, but I feel she answers the questions indirectly most of the time. Maybe it is her English, or just her being "mature"; it's better to comment in a generic way.

About the coaching change, her answer was “I can’t say one way is better or worse,” “It is just another way.”

While Tursynbayeva said "Completely different mentality, of course. Both groups have their pros and cons. With Eteri Georgievna, we train a lot, we work a lot, every day, no indulgences. And this is good, it is very hardening, good to train. At competitions, it is easier - as it is said, difficult in training, easy in battle. In Toronto, the relationship is more friendly. I like to train with Eteri Georgievna, this is my thing."

For me，I look for direct answers in interviewers, and to a casual figure skating fan, they are more satisfying. If I want to know what is the difference in training methods, Tursynbayev gave better answers, albert it is from her perspective.

I'm not sure what language Elisabet's interview was conducted in or if it was translated - but we know Evgenia gave her interview in English and it was presented in English. She has to keep it short and vague - she's not good with the language, and the more she talks, the more she is likely to say the wrong thing and make people mad.

The complexity of Elisabet's statement makes me think that the interview was conducted in a language that she is more familiar with than Evgenia is with English.

WhiteProphet · Oct 9, 2018

Every time I read Medvedeva's interviews I can't decide if I'm more bothered by the costant idealization of her fans that would kiss the ground where she walks, or by the costant bashing of the haters. I guess both categories are just respectively blind to her defects and merits, it's very annoying.

glassanimal · Oct 9, 2018

hippomoomin said:
I love Evgenia, but I feel she answers the questions indirectly most of the time. Maybe it is her English, or just her being "mature"; it's better to comment in a generic way.

About the coaching change, her answer was “I can’t say one way is better or worse,” “It is just another way.”

While Tursynbayeva said "Completely different mentality, of course. Both groups have their pros and cons. With Eteri Georgievna, we train a lot, we work a lot, every day, no indulgences. And this is good, it is very hardening, good to train. At competitions, it is easier - as it is said, difficult in training, easy in battle. In Toronto, the relationship is more friendly. I like to train with Eteri Georgievna, this is my thing."

For me，I look for direct answers in interviewers, and to a casual figure skating fan, they are more satisfying. If I want to know what is the difference in training methods, Tursynbayev gave better answers, albert it is from her perspective.

Sadly, Evgenia cannot give too many direct or insightful answers because whatever is said is taken as offense by the perpetually offended, who then runs to the nearest TV station with their drama. This is mentioned in the interview.

andromache · Oct 9, 2018

Shayuki said:
Reading this interview, I still don't think that she realizes her situation.

Sure, Evgenia knows nothing about her skating, her competition, or anything at all. Internet strangers know everything better than she does.

She WANTS to change and grow as a skater. That doesn't involve skating the same types of programs over and over again. If the ISU is going to penalize her in PCS forever even if in 2021 she's skating legitimate masterpieces with skating skills that are head-and-shoulders above the rest of the field, then so be it.

I do actually think that Evgenia would see a dip in PCS this season even if she was doing the same stuff as last season - Alina is the new golden girl regardless.

There's a saying that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. If she kept doing the Eteri programs, her results would still be behind Alina (or whoever else comes along next season - the latest young girl). She got beat by Alina last season - nothing would change.

I'm happy she's happy and that's she's skating to music she loves. No matter how it works out for her competitively, she has taken ownership of her skating and she has no regrets. With the depth in Russia, she's up against pretty steep odds for 2022 anyway. Might as well swing for the fences and take a huge risk.

chopinskate · Oct 9, 2018

So, how long until the next interview? Skate Canada?

DeeDee18 · Oct 9, 2018

Shayuki said:
Reading this interview, I still don't think that she realizes her situation.

Think about it. She has(had?) immense reputation. She would keep the PCS very high as long as she skated her usual way and was consistent. Her PCS already took a hit, most likely due to her partially incomplete and more experimental programs and due to her unfamiliarity with the new style(One could also say that it just doesn't suit her, especially the FS). If she establishes herself as merely a 34/68 PCS type skater due to some struggles this season, I truly think that there's no coming back. Does she actually realize that she can't just lay low and perform during the 2021-2022 season? She needs to do amazingly every single season until then. If she struggles even this season, she'll have difficulty even making the worlds team next season. And if she doesn't make the team, is there any coming back from that? Especially when we consider the values ISU tends to push during Olympics, it'd be an extremely long shot if she doesn't have immaculate, flawless reputation up to that point. Now it got further stained by her loss to Tennell - marking the first time she lost to a foreigner. I just cannot comprehend how they can feel so confident that they have the luxury to take things slow. Do they not see what's happening? She might not even make the Worlds team next season if Anna, Sasha and Alina all are in good form.

As for her skating itself, well... Her programs will have to improve a lot for me to really be able to appreciate her new direction. The SP has some hope, but the FS I doubt she'll ever be able to convince me of - Some types of music just don't suit everyone. There's some hope that her next season's programs will be more interesting. Hopefully it won't be too late by then.

I'm sorry but have you read the FULL interview? then you shouldn't have missed the part where she made her goal this year to be top 2 at every competition (including nationals) and medal at worlds. That is not indicative of someone who is trying to lay low

andromache · Oct 9, 2018

melgirl25 said:
Yes I have seen that, the lip reading analysis. Who really cares though? It is a human reaction and normal. Can you imagine the emotion and adrenaline skaters at an Olympics K&C have after working their butts off all season, enduring pain, etc and not getting the result they dreamed of. You or I or the next person would say the same or similar comments.

I also think that it is very emotionally taxing for a skater who has been "mothered" by a coach from a young age. They're young and they begin to see the coach as someone who they have a deep, strong, personal relationship with - not as a coach who is just doing their job. If that person who you have that relationship with then begins to coach your direct competition to win against you - it's emotionally difficult for a young person to deal with.

From what we can observe (I don't know what goes on behind the scenes!), it seems like Eteri develops close relationships with a few favorites. She hasn't really been going to JGP events this season. Last season, she was everywhere with Evgenia, while Alina was with Danil (most of the time). This year, Alina is the favorite - Eteri treats her much more warmly than she used to, similar to how she used to treat Evgenia (and Yulia before that).

Evgenia saw that happened to Eteri and Yulia and probably figured that as long as she didn't lose her jumps, that it wouldn't happen to her. But still Alina beat her, coached by a person that Evgenia had viewed as a mother. When you're a teenager, it's emotional.

ANYWAY - will be interesting to see how Eteri handles next season, with four senior stars.

caballe · Oct 9, 2018

The bit that I find interesting is the selection of her free program last year. I get the feeling that she believes her coaches should have let her keep the Leftovers program instead of giving her Anna Karenina. I agree. I personally think that if she made clean with her original program, she would have won the Olympics. In my opinion, it is a better program, more well-suited to her "airy" quality, not to mention the technical superiority. I don't know, however, that she could have performed it clean at the Olympics, considering the injury she was dealing with and everything else. I'm sure her coaches looked at it from every angle before making the decision.

It appears to me - I'm speculating - that Medvedeva felt betrayed by the program switch when the results came back and that the coaches did this on purpose to keep her from winning. I hope she now realizes her coaches had her best intentions. (it would be great to see the free program resurrected if the tango thing doesn't work out

)

samkrut@mail.ru · Oct 9, 2018

andromache said:
If she kept doing the Eteri programs, her results would still be behind Alina

I can't agree with that. They were basically at par and in Korea Zhenya would have won in a new system with +5 GOE and limited backloading. I think they would have started this season as absolutely equal in the eyes of judges who would wait for their mistakes to decide who should be higher. Hence, clean Medvedeva would start with 235+ and with 230 after one fall def. not with 204.

The biggest thing would be the psychological pressure on both of them to keep training together. Especially on Zhenya. But watching how attentive now Eteri who even kisses Alina, I think this outcome is very positive for Alina as well. She is "the only child" with all the "mother's" love now.

caballe · Oct 9, 2018

andromache said:
Sure, Evgenia knows nothing about her skating, her competition, or anything at all. Internet strangers know everything better than she does.

She WANTS to change and grow as a skater. That doesn't involve skating the same types of programs over and over again. If the ISU is going to penalize her in PCS forever even if in 2021 she's skating legitimate masterpieces with skating skills that are head-and-shoulders above the rest of the field, then so be it.

I do actually think that Evgenia would see a dip in PCS this season even if she was doing the same stuff as last season - Alina is the new golden girl regardless.

There's a saying that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. If she kept doing the Eteri programs, her results would still be behind Alina (or whoever else comes along next season - the latest young girl). She got beat by Alina last season - nothing would change.

I'm happy she's happy and that's she's skating to music she loves. No matter how it works out for her competitively, she has taken ownership of her skating and she has no regrets. With the depth in Russia, she's up against pretty steep odds for 2022 anyway. Might as well swing for the fences and take a huge risk.

You are implying that she's trying something "different" to beat Alina because the previous thing didn't work out (like twice). So she had better beat Alina this year if she's gonna show everyone how right the move was. How likely does that look now though?

I wish her all the best. I simply cannot be too optimistic about what she's got right now. In my opinion, the "huge risk" she should have taken is staying in Russia. She took the safer route. It's not looking that promising.

andromache · Oct 9, 2018

[email protected] said:
I can't agree with that. They were basically at par and in Korea Zhenya would have won in a new system with +5 GOE and limited backloading. I think they would have started this season as absolutely equal in the eyes of judges who would wait for their mistakes to decide who should be higher. Hence, clean Medvedeva would start with 235+ and with 230 after one fall def. not with 204.

The biggest thing would be the psychological pressure on both of them to keep training together. Especially on Zhenya. But watching how attentive now Eteri who even kisses Alina, I think this outcome is very positive for Alina as well. She is "the only child" with all the "mother's" love now.

Agree to disagree re: how the judges would've viewed them this season if both stayed with Eteri.

I don't think the psychological pressure would've been healthy for either one, long-term. Pressure is good for athletes, but too much is too much.

I'm worried for Alina next season. She has the love now....but will it last? It seems like Eteri should try to be more objective in how she treats her students.

Seren · Oct 9, 2018

andromache said:
Sure, Evgenia knows nothing about her skating, her competition, or anything at all. Internet strangers know everything better than she does.

She WANTS to change and grow as a skater. That doesn't involve skating the same types of programs over and over again. If the ISU is going to penalize her in PCS forever even if in 2021 she's skating legitimate masterpieces with skating skills that are head-and-shoulders above the rest of the field, then so be it.

I do actually think that Evgenia would see a dip in PCS this season even if she was doing the same stuff as last season - Alina is the new golden girl regardless.

There's a saying that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. If she kept doing the Eteri programs, her results would still be behind Alina (or whoever else comes along next season - the latest young girl). She got beat by Alina last season - nothing would change.

I'm happy she's happy and that's she's skating to music she loves. No matter how it works out for her competitively, she has taken ownership of her skating and she has no regrets. With the depth in Russia, she's up against pretty steep odds for 2022 anyway. Might as well swing for the fences and take a huge risk.

I could not have said this better.

andromache · Oct 9, 2018

caballe said:
You are implying that she's trying something "different" to beat Alina because the previous thing didn't work out (like twice). So she had better beat Alina this year if she's gonna show everyone how right the move was. How likely does that look now though?

I wish her all the best. I simply cannot be too optimistic about what she's got right now. In my opinion, the "huge risk" she should have taken is staying in Russia. She took the safer route. It's not looking that promising.

She's doing the only thing she can to have the hope of having a long-term career. Wasn't going to work with Eteri. If it wasn't going to be Alina, it was going to be another Eteri student.

:rofl:

at the idea that traveling across the world to train with a coach who doesn't speak your native language and trying to completely transform your skating is the "safe" choice. Some of y'all are so biased you'll just say anything to bash Evgenia's choices.

There's like, a 2% chance that Evgenia will make the Olympic team in 2022 considering the depth she is up against. If/when she fails to make that team, you can blame it all on her decision to move to Orser. I'm going to enjoy her journey.

caballe · Oct 9, 2018

andromache said:
She's doing the only thing she can to have the hope of having a long-term career. Wasn't going to work with Eteri. If it wasn't going to be Alina, it was going to be another Eteri student.

at the idea that traveling across the world to train with a coach who doesn't speak your native language and trying to completely transform your skating is the "safe" choice. Some of y'all are so biased you'll just say anything to bash Evgenia's choices.

There's like, a 2% chance that Evgenia will make the Olympic team in 2022 considering the depth she is up against. If/when she fails to make that team, you can blame it all on her decision to move to Orser. I'm going to enjoy her journey.

I would never laugh at your opinions no matter how outlandish they may sound.

But I think I have a better understanding of her expressed goal than you: is it not to win Beijing? Why move goals to make it about the "journey" when you know it started as something more than that?

hippomoomin · Oct 9, 2018

Well, I don't really care what happened last season, and I don't have the time to dig into the "rumors"
It turns out Evgenia's interviewers don't have the kind of information I am looking for (i.e., details of training, approaches taken by her new coaching team). Basically she just repeats she is in good hands, she is happy, her new team is great, she has work to do...

glassanimal · Oct 9, 2018

hippomoomin said:
Well, I don't really care what happened last season, and I don't have the time to dig into the "rumors"
It turns out Evgenia's interviewers don't have the kind of information I am looking for (i.e., details of training, approaches taken by her new coaching team). Basically she just repeats she is in good hands, she is happy, her new team is great, she has work to do...

And in the article, they explained why this is the case.

DSQ · Oct 9, 2018

KiraraChin said:
“I just thought if I will not do any changing, if I will leave everything how it was, I just wouldn’t compete at all,” Medvedeva said. “I just understood that I really wanted to improve myself. I want to start a new life.”

That’s a great mind set to have, very healthy.

Fluture · Oct 9, 2018

caballe said:
I would never laugh at your opinions no matter how outlandish they may sound.

But I think I have a better understanding of her expressed goal than you: is it not to win Beijing? Why move goals to make it about the "journey" when you know it started as something more than that?

I frankly don't even think Evgenia has a big chance at winning in Beijing. It will be a huge surprise if she even makes it to the Olympics in 2022. And I'm saying this as her fan. The depth in Russian ladies is just insane and if it won't be Trusova, Kostornaya and Shcherbakova, there will be Valieva and Usacheva. Their talent pool is endless. Her only chance is if she drastically improves her technical difficulty or the others falter and she is able to stay consistent. Then the fed might send her as the "more experienced, safe" option.

But regardless of this: Isn't it something positive that she's got a goal? If she doesn't make it to Beijing in the end she at least can say that she did everything that was within her possibilites to achieve her goal. She won't need to ask herself: "What if I did...?" because she did and tried everything she could. I think that's important because otherwise she might have been sitting there her whole life asking the kind of questions that won't be answered anyway. She might do it anway, if she doesn't reach her ultimate goal but I doubt it will be as bad. She can know for sure she did everything she could and she has people around her (Brian) who know what it feels like to never get that one, big goal. He's a two-time Silver Medallist as well. He was probably as close as Evgenia was to that gold medal. Both didn't get it. I think that's important, too. To have somebody who knows what this experience feels like and can help you deal with those emotions accordingly.

silverfoxes · Oct 9, 2018

Evgenia is guilty of being an independent young woman with opinions, who just wanted to be in control of her own career. Her critics will never be satisfied unless she never opens her mouth again and totally disappears. Not going to happen, thank goodness.

Shayuki · Oct 9, 2018

andromache said:
Sure, Evgenia knows nothing about her skating, her competition, or anything at all. Internet strangers know everything better than she does.
... There's a saying that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. If she kept doing the Eteri programs, her results would still be behind Alina (or whoever else comes along next season - the latest young girl). She got beat by Alina last season - nothing would change.

I'm assuming her goal is to do as well as possible at the 2022 Olympics. Of course, if she doesn't actually care against results(Which would go against her stating that as her primary goal) and just wants to casually enjoy herself, you might have a point.

A special mention to that quote, by the way. In terms of figure skating, it actually doesn't apply. The very same performance can have different results, depending on the judging panel and location of the competition for instance. The margin of victory was such that the winner could actually have been a different one on a different way. Additionally, they have a far easier time pushing Alina as the #1 skater if Evgenia doesn't even contest it. That's why it would have been important to seek to turn the momentum as fast as possible.

DeeDee18 said:
I'm sorry but have you read the FULL interview? then you shouldn't have missed the part where she made her goal this year to be top 2 at every competition (including nationals) and medal at worlds. That is not indicative of someone who is trying to lay low

That is a very, very low goal for her. That should be the minimum expectation, or in reality below minimum expectation. Still, what's important is to realize how well equipped she's going to be to meet even that goal this season.

New Interview with Evgenia Medvedeva

andromache

WhiteProphet

glassanimal

andromache

chopinskate

DeeDee18

andromache

caballe

[email protected]

Medalist

caballe

andromache

Seren

Wakabond Forever

andromache

caballe

hippomoomin

glassanimal

DSQ

Fluture

silverfoxes

Shayuki

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